The Presidential Vote – Will The Pendulum Keep Swinging
By Granville Perera -December 13, 2014
The inaugural presidential campaign meetings are over. President Rajapaksa, true to his style showed off his forced support or otherwise with a ground full of people. Pressured or otherwise, the human deluge that filled the Salgado grounds in Anuradhapura had no parallels.
United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament and opposition firebrand Pelisge Harrison representing Anuradhapura on the national list claims that there were 1108 busses that transported an estimated 26,000 members of the Civil defence force and their families from the rural areas of Anuradhapura and surrounding districts. Social media is full of videos that shown this human avalanche descending on Salgado ground from government sponsored busses. What matters at the end of the day is that they were physically present and President Rajapaksa pulled off, yet another media spectacle.
Common Candidate, Maithripala Sirisena kicked off with multiple meetings but the crowd and glitter was no match to that of the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Yet, the mood of the majority of Sri Lankans seems optimistic and the confidence levels of the general public for a Sirisena presidency should be a cause for concern for the Rajapaksa camp. The governments attempt to ridicule his “Modi” jacket is ludicrous, I for one assume that he is wearing a specially made bullet proof vest fearing a Gotabaya sniper. We may know the truth behind the “Modi” jacket – some day!.
The beautiful Hirunika Premachandra, as expected switched on to the side of “Sirisena Maame” and vowed to provide justice to her dead father who was assassinated in a street brawl with fellow SLFPer and parliamentarian, Duminda Silva. Silva’s memory loss probably will not be reversed until Hirunika is on the saddle, to avenge her father’s murder. Hirunika probably doesn’t have a file with the president, but all indications are that she would have plenty of videos and photos of her modeling days in London, which the Government will unleash at the first opportunity. She too probably is in possession of good material of the presidential siblings and we certainly are destined to be entertained.Read More
